vanguard blog | August 08, 2011 | 8 comments

Making 'Recovery High'

"Vanguard" producer Cerissa Tanner spent most of the last year in Massachusetts shooting “Recovery High.” She also produced “Gateway to Heroin” and “The OxyContin Express.”

We typically spend three or four weeks in the field to produce an hour-long episode of “Vanguard.” “Recovery High” took 10 times that, easily making it the longest production in the history of the series. Shooting began on the first day of school in early September and concluded eight months later with graduation. During that time, our cameras were granted relatively unfettered access to the hallways of Northshore Recovery High School in Beverly, Mass.

Over the course of the school year, three students shared their sometimes harrowing stories with us. Both the highs, literal and otherwise, and the lows. Jon, Richard and Brandi – all of whom you meet in the show – are, like the other 40 or so students attending Northshore, battling addictions to drugs and alcohol.

Helping those students every step of the way is the fearless and tireless principal of Northshore Recovery High, Michelle Lipinski. Michelle, which is how the students refer to her, put a lot of trust in us when she invited our cameras into the school. As a producer I was very aware of the fact that we were working with subjects who were not only young — a situation that comes with it its own set of ethical issues and responsibilities — but also with adolescents who are more vulnerable than your typical teen.

Northshore Recovery High is a unique place. Students are drug tested at least once a week. But they are not kicked out for testing positive, something that sets the school apart from others like it (there are about 30 such schools across the country). “We come from a place where we don’t shoot our wounded,” Michelle told us. “We’re going to keep you here and we’re going try to get you better.”

And that’s what Vanguard’s cameras captured: the unrelenting and sometimes unorthodox efforts to help these kids. Some do get better. Some don’t. But, as Michelle would say of addiction itself, that’s the reality of a place like “Recovery High”: “It’s a battle… every day.”

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8 comments // Making 'Recovery High'

  • Long_Lee
  • Changes2Pac
    • 0
      Changes2Pac  

    • This is a great documentary, it shows real issues that people are dealing with. We need to think outside the norms and come up with specific programs that address the issue not just putting duct tape on the issues and hope for the best. What we have been doing hasn't been working. We need to look at each issue and address each issue with a different approach rather than treating the problem with a standard across the board.

    • 9 months ago
  • norrissmith01
  • kouzelny
    • 0
      kouzelny  

    • The documentary filmmaking talent is clear; it is a solid production. But the school's policy of not removing anyone for continued use is devastatingly detrimental to actual recovery. The school becomes a great nexus for drug user interaction, and the lives at risk are too often left exposed to material risks they would be better positioned to withstand in residential treatment where accountability is part of the solution. I am disappointed in the waste of resources when compared with better (existing) possibilities.

    • 9 months ago
  • Ben_Bruntmyer
    • +2
      Ben_Bruntmyer  

    • Also, you mention that they don't kick people out for using.
      Most schools like this don't kick people out, they try to work with them in various different ways to help them to the best of their abilities.
      However, if a student is continuously using, or just totally doesn't want to be sober, they ask them to leave. The reason for this is because when somebody is actually trying to be sober, being around people in active addiction isn't usually a good thing for them. It's more out of concern for the other students, you know?
      At the two different sober school I went to though, people relapsed and things happened. It's a part of recovery, it happens.
      But we held each other accountable, and a lot of us are still sober.
      I struggled through addiction for a long time, and now I'm coming up on a year of sobriety soon. I believe that I owe it all to the program, my school, my friends, and my higher power.
      Recovery works, if you want it.

    • 10 months ago
  • remanns
  • Ben_Bruntmyer
    • 0
      Ben_Bruntmyer  

    • I'm glad that this was made.
      Minnesota is a sort of hot spot for recovery and I actually just graduated from a recovery school up here.
      I know that a lot of us are really interested in relating our experiences to others too, so if there is ever a follow up idea, Minneapolis might be a good place to start.

      Much love,
      Ben

    • 10 months ago
  • jason_knight
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